Jaeger
by Michael Konnor
Summary: When an on the run ninja tries to atone for his past transgressions, an enemy can quickly become a friend even as a friend can quickly become an enemy
1. Chapter 1

'_Will Adrian and Jaeger. Of all the people i have ever met Will Adrian is perhaps the most hypocritical. Will is an honest, by the book cop. Jaeger is a selfish, devilishly practical assassin and as cold blooded as they come, but sometimes Will says or does things and you wonder 'Are they really so different?' Mark Graves_

3 years ago: Jaeger sat on the rooftop and watched the offloading of the cargo ship. It was early morning and after following the paper trail of import / export to docks to source to destination Jaeger was ready to tie this up and call it a night. Working homicide by day and then following up on his own triad investigation by night was starting to take its toll. He only ever meditated 5 hrs a day instead of sleeping, but still fatigue and mental exhaustion was inevitable. There was only so long you can burn the candle at both ends before you run out of wax. He massaged the bridge of his nose to assuage the growing migraine that was growing in his temples.

He ran his hand through his short stark white hair and traced his hand over his features. The change always amazed him even after so long. The scar that Arashi had given him as he was fleeing the village, it ran from above his left eye to just parallel with the bridge of his nose, just under his eye socket, if Will hadn't pulled back as the sword came down he would be called 'One eye'. The village was his home for twenty years. Framed for killing the head of the village, outcast and hunted by his friends and 'family' and he had even lost Akako, his love. Arashi was in charge now and all the past commandments and dictates that the previous head had put in place were gone now like smoke after a fire. Arashi was now part of some of the shadiest characters in the golden triangle. The village was involved in assassinations, drugs, guns and stuff that Will didn't even want to know about

He reached back and made sure his short sword was loose in its scabbard but not too loose that it falls out. He started getting nervous, no excuse for it, Will guessed but it was a bad sign when a police officer and lethal ninja couldn't do surveillance without the jitters. Looking down he spotted a young man in slacks and a t shirt with a baseball cap pulled low over his face, Will guessed, to obscure his features and he was of slim build. trying to stealthily sneak closer to the offloading. Jaeger shook his head

"He's going to get himself killed', Jaeger thought to himself. The triads were not the most well known or 'glamorous' of crime families, but they were dangerous and experienced. Looking back along the man's trail he spotted two triad gunmen following the man. He ran across the back of the roof and flipped off the rooftop to land on some packing crates tied up with netting for transport.

Stealthing along behind the two triads, Jaeger rounded the corner to find both gunmen unconscious and the man standing over them, cracking his knuckles and smiling. Jaeger casual stance dropped into a defensive fighting style.

"Who are you?" Jaegers voice was heavily accented Japanese but the words were clear enough. Will was American through and through; part of the change was that they were essentially two different people in one body. Jaeger was Asian, he looked Asian and he sounded Asian, he thought Asian. The mindset was so different to the western mind; it sometimes confused Will if what he was saying made sense to anyone but him.

Will had always wondered how deep the change went. Did it affect his personality? His views? His morality? His very essence?

To keep his mind clear from concerns or letting his worries distract him from what he was doing he would look on his Jaeger persona as a tool. Just another weapon in his fight to escape from the clan he so desperately loved when he was younger.

The man jumped back a step and smiled

"More meat for the barbecue" an electrical arc spread between both his outstretched hands

Jaeger started warily circling the stranger, while keeping his peripheral vision on objects around him. They were under the overhang of one of the warehouses and ensconced in shadow, so they should be safe from guards for a while, but if explosions started going off then attention would inevitably follow. Jaegers hands flashed through arcane hand signs as he strove to weave his spell before his assailant managed to electrocute him, it was easier near the docks as he had plenty of water to work with. If he was most other places it wouldn't be this easy or quick.

As he finished his final sign, mist rolled in from the sea as he obscured everything. Mist swirled round his body as he concentrated it in one place as he stealthily moved behind the packing crates that had so cushioned his fall earlier. The mist coalesced into a man sized figure of approximately jaegers build and height as he worked his way round the back of his electrically charged assailant.

"I don't need to see you to hit you, mist is made up of water and water conducts" the man shouted

A giant dome of bluish white crackling light filled the immediate area, Jaegers water substitute was vaporized as the electricity broke it down to its constituent parts, the packing crates burst into flame, the concrete of the warehouse took on horizontal scorch marks as the arc of lightning flashed across its surface. Mobile phones blew up in owners hands, interference drowned out radio broadcasts (both civilian and other) and electrical equipment short circuited. Jaeger was in mid leap to take down his opponent when the lightning arc hit him. His clothes burst into flame and he was thrust backwards over the edge of the dock, his system spasmed and then he hit the frigid cold of the sea, the shock to his system made him black out.

Jaeger awoke and noticed that he was sitting down, tied up with his hands and fingers bound by rope and his feet lassoed to the chair legs. He looked up to spot the man he saw at the docks sitting down behind an executive oak desk reading a book. He spotted the title 'Mass Effect'

"Good afternoon, it's nice to see you are still alive, i have some questions and i need some answers."

Jaeger cursed in mandarin

The man put the book gingerly down and walked round the desk and sat on the front edge of the desk facing Jaeger

"My name is Michael Garth and you are...?"

Jaeger spat at him

Garth reached out and put one finger on the ropes encircling his hands. A bright blue spark jumped from Garth's finger to the ropes, Jaegers body spasmed in pain, he bit back the scream that was forming

"You don't have to hold in your screams, this office is soundproofed, but I WILL have my answers"

"...had worse..." Jaeger mumbled.

"Oh my dear 49er, I know you are Triad and I know you aren't very high in the organization, although the whole finger wiggling, mist thing was very impressive."

Jaeger tensed against the ropes

"Not 49er..." he managed to gasp

"Maybe a red pole but no higher, mind you, I have always thought that the titles you Triads come up with, sound crazy to me."

"...not Triad"

"Lies, lies and more lies"

Garth sighed and took a deep breath; he walked round behind Jaegers chair. Jaeger could feel the hair on the back of his neck standing as static was discharged. He craned his head back to spot Garth standing in the middle of the room, lightning was emanating from his very pores, it ran up and down his body, his hands were glowing a deep blue, Jaeger couldn't even see his hands anymore as from Garths wrist down there was just energy. Bright blue, destructive energy.

Jaeger tensed and awaited the killing blow.

Gunshots were heard outside the door.

Garth let the energy dissipate as he ran to the desk and hit the intercom

"What's going on, Kita?"

"An intruder making his way up towards you sir, security can't seem to stop him, only delay him"

"Tell security if it gets too dangerous or if he starts breaking though, tell them to withdraw"

Jaeger started visibly struggling against the ropes

"Forget it, you'll never break free, I've treated those ropes, never gonna happen my Asian friend"

Jaeger picked up a hint of an accent, maybe Georgia but it was only for a split second, then the facade was back.

"Let me go, I can help, he is going to slaughter you"

Garth eyes started crackling with energy, arcs if lightning started coruscating up and his down his forearm, circuitry could be seen underneath the lightning itself.

"No one is going to slaughter anyone, not here!"

A patch of darkness slid under the door to the office and seemed to detach from the floor and form into a costumed figure, dressed as a ninja, but the attire was powder blue, not the traditional, black, grey or white. The figure pointed at Jaeger

"I only want him then i will be on my way"

Garth stepped between the two ninjas

"No, you can't have him; he is going to answer for his crimes. I am not going to let him vanish"

The ninjas hand flashed forward and Jaeger heard a whirring noise as a salvo of three projectiles arced towards Garth. He leant to the side and they whistled past him.

Garth smiled

"Bad shot"

Jaeger stood up, freed from the ropes. The shuriken embedded in Garths desk as they cut the ropes on the way past

"No, he wasn't"

Garth tried to turn round but Jaeger struck him in the neck and Garth collapsed

"Hello, Ryukin"

The figure bowed

"Jaeger. You have crimes to answer for, come back with me"

Jaeger shook his head

"I can't do that, I am sorry. I'm innocent, I can't come back until i clear my name"

Ryukin growled underneath his mask

"I cannot let you leave here."

Jaeger looked around the room and spotted a wraparound tinted mirror that was used as a wall behind Garths desk. He vaulted the desk and landed on the mirror feet first the glass shattered and Jaeger went into free fall hundreds of feet above the ground

He didn't even have time to think as he spread his body out in free fall to slow his descent. He gathered the energy for one spell as he clasped his right wrist with his left hand and poured all the energy he could into his right hand. There was dryness in his throat as he started absorbing moisture from the air, a ball of water started forming in his hand, a whirlpool effect was seen as the water coalesced in his palm.

He struck out and plunged his hand into the concrete of the building, marking a deep groove sliding downward in the wall, shards and concrete dust showered him as he hand jammed in the wall and slowed his pace. He looked down, he estimated about another hundred feet to go. He looked around for any smaller buildings, he could perhaps alight on. A man shaped spot of darkness flowed down the wall until it was just over Jaegers position and then detached from the wall, coalesced into a man and kicked Jaeger free from the wall, then using the momentum of the kick the figure retreated back into the shadows and reattached itself to the wall.

A voice sounded in Jaegers mind

"If I cannot bring you back alive, then I will take you back in any form I can get"

Jaeger thought about a snappy retort but he was never very good at the mental aspects of his training. He focussed his attention away from Ryukin and looked at the approaching ground. He resumed the same posture and start forming a ball of water in his right palm, he started drawing on more and more energy, unlocking more and more moisture from the air, as he formed more and more water, and he ultimately started using his own moisture locked within his own body

Before he struck the ground he lashed out with his spell and hit the ground with as much force as he could generate in the hopes of cancelling out the inertia from the fall. There was as sickening crack as his shoulder dislocated, he felt his wrist snap like so much dried wood, his elbow cracked and he felt his forearm sliding up his arm. He rolled as he landed and came to his feet. He looked down at the damage and spotted that he had changed back into Will Adrian. He was wearing his dress shoes, smart brown trousers and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and with his shoulder holster and regulation sidearm within

Cradling his arm against his chest he ran away as fast as his legs could carry him and hoped that once the adrenalin wore off he hoped that the pain wasn't too bad


	2. Chapter 2

"_The trouble Micahel has, is that he plays stuff so close to his chest that his heart gets in the way" – Will Adrian_

Michael sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. There was a dark slithering noise as if all the snakes in the world were having a disco. He opened his eyes and tried not to let too much light into his retinas, without success.

"Someone turn the sun down its too bright"

He looked at his watch. 7am

"...and it's only going to get brighter. Great"

He stood in his office and looked around. The ninja had jumped out of his window, which also had happened to double as a projection TV. He felt the wind whistling through his office and shivered uncontrollably.

"Where is he?" a voice asked from behind him

Michael slowly turned around to spot a shadow on the floor, rising ghost like, it reminded Michael of the scene in L'Morte D'Arthur where the lady of the lakes' hand thrust upwards holding Excalibur. It was one of the scenes he always thought they never quite got right in the movies.

The traditional ninja garb betrayed his profession, but the robes looked...strange. Instead of the usual dark colour it almost seemed as if they were made of living darkness. His eyes didn't have retinas or eyes in the usual sense of the word but all Michael saw were two wisps of smoke

Michael tried to stand, the room started moving so he thought better of it, and stayed sitting

"I don't know, now go away"

The was an eerie nails-on-a-blackboard sound as he drew his sword from an previously unseen scabbard on his back

Michael clamped his hands over his ears

"Killing me won't tell you if i know where he is"

"But it will give me pleasure"

Regardless of the mask on the ninjas face, he could almost see a Cheshire cat type of grin on his face

Michael rubbed his face and tried to massage the headache out

He sat and placed his elbows on his knees as he tried to look relaxed while the whole time he was thinking of a way out and his head wasn't cooperating. He looked at the ninja again, the supernaturally dark costume, the blending into a shadow, the movement only occurring in places that had no light.

He mentally linked into his computer system and accessed the high level functions that were impossible unless you were him. He ran scan after scan on the figure advancing on him and apart from height and build; everything else was inconclusive as if the scanning beams were being absorbed. He linked into the environmental controls. He could control life support, make certain areas of the buildings airtight, redirect air from one area to another, change humidity and light levels from cinema all the way up to stadium concert floodlights. He cranked the settings on the lights in his office to maximum brightness; he closed his eyes as he saw the ninja break into a run towards him. He triggered the lights as he felt the heat start to burn the hairs on his arm. Opening his eyes, he opened his palm towards the ninja as a bright blue nimbus started to crackle around his arm as he directed the power towards his palm, circuitry started to come online, bright blue lines of energy started snaking their way up and down his arm as the power started to build. The ninja covered his eyes and started to wildly slash at anything in front of him

"Hurts don't it?"

Michael couldn't help but smile. The ninja turned to the sound of his voice and started to stalk towards him, deliberately and trailing the sword point along the floor, it made a grating noise as the metal sword tip drew a groove along the wooden laminate flooring. His sword went up to strike at Michael, Michaels palm flashed blue as Michael thrust the power towards the ninja

Kita Marshall ran towards her boss' office when she heard a scream. Average silver haired, blue eyed, slim, what some would term 'beauty', though she had never ascribed to the axiom of bimbo's, what made them, what motivated them or all the jokes about them. She reached the corridor that led to Michael Garth's office.

Her boss was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. He would fly off the handle when profits went missing but then she would find out (through her own investigation ) that the same amount that went missing went to a war fund, or police fund or 9/11 fund and it was on Garth's authorization. She just didn't understand the type of person who would chew out the accountancy division for losing the money whilst you covertly shifted it from the bank to the charity of the day.

Reaching the door, she keyed in her passcode and she heard a small beep

"Kita Marshall, logged as entering at 7.13am"

She stood in the office as he spotted Michael nursing his hands as small wisps of smoke could be seen disappearing through the open wall

"Michael? What happened?"

He looked at her with pleading eyes

"I punched someone and it hurt my hand!"

Kita looked at the ceiling and prayed for some ancient god to strike her down. She sighed

"Men!"

Kita bandaged his hand and then went outside to her desk.

"Michael I may be your 'Executive Assistant', she highlighted the title by mimicking quotation marks with her fingers, "but don't ever mistake me for a brood mother"

Kita stormed out and walked back down the hall to her desk

Michael sat back at his desk and tried to ignore the wind and the chill from outside. He stretched his arms over his head, cracked his knuckles and rolled his head from side to side as he strove to stretch the muscles.

He waved his hand over the desk; streaks of blue ran up and down his arm, which was mirrored on the mahogany desktop. The circuitry in his implants connected with the Garth Server, the mahogany top wavered then vanished to be replaced by the LCD display of the tinted glass desk with frosted glass surrounds.

He pulled up the security camera footage that showed Jaeger running away. Dragging his hand into one of the images from the camera that was displayed on the desk he gestured with his hand and threw the image against the wall where it appeared framed like an old masterpiece. Michael stepped out from behind his desk and approached the framed image. He looked at the tall figure, the sandy blond hair and the muscular build. He put his hand into the frame, grabbed the image by the shoulders and pulled it back until it formed a 3D statuette half in and half out of the frame. Michael spun it round to look at the front of the figure but apart from the clothing which was extrapolated to show what he was wearing, the face was blank. He touched a spot on the figures shoulders and the image zoomed in on the brown strap that was evident on his back.

"Run a search on all local police officers of this height and build with shoulder injuries" He shouted to no one in particular, a beep was his only response

The 3D image was subverted as the police department file was overlaid.

"Will Adrian, Detective, Homicide, and Hope City Police Dept. Logged as admitted to Hope General, and as far as records show, he is still there", the voice sounded female and sultry.

"Using the statue as a template, overlay Will Adrian over the top, using proportionate measurements from the file"

The text on the file was subverted as the 3d image came back to the forefront. The face and clothing from the police file was overlaid over the security image. It fit perfectly

"Keep him in the hospital, log him as needing observation, and send his police file to the E-reader"

The 3d image shrank back down into the 2d painting frame. The ornate design of the bottom frame vanished to be replaced by a progress bar as the file was uploaded to Garth personal tablet pc. The indicator showed page 1 of 16

Michael whistled in surprise

"Store all this camera footage on my personal server and encrypt it under the usual guidelines"

A beep confirmed his choice as the frame (and image) vanished from the wall

Michael left the office shortly afterwards and drove straight to Hope General hospital in his one of a kind customized dodge charger with electric blue colour and white stripe emblazoned over the roof and down the hood

Driving from the industrial estate to the hospital took no time at all as his onboard computer logged all the traffic data and chose the less clustered routes. The car drove itself as Michael sat with his hand resting on the E-reader. His implants drained the data and passed it straight into Michael.

He closed his eyes as the data flowed into him. His brain conjured images from the data as he sat and watched Will Adrian's official life pass before his eyes. Streets, academies, family homes were downloaded and portrayed in full depth as he watched from a 1st person view how young Will grew up. Official psychiatric reports were portrayed as idiosyncrasies' in the film that was Will Adrian.

"Arrived"

Michael opened his eyes and sat up. Looking around he spotted himself parked at Hope City General. He sat still for a while as he adjusted to all the data.

"Michael?" the female voice queried

"The data..."

"Was it not what you expected? Are upgrades required?", she queried

Michael shook his head

"No, it's not that."

"What then?"

Michael looked up and suddenly everything made sense

"It's a lie"

Leaving the car, Michael confidently strode into the ER department of the hospital. Spotting a Michael walked past him to the cordoned off bed that was sitting in the corner of the room.

"Detective Adrian"

Will looked up in surprise; his right arm was taped to his chest with surgical tape. He nodded in acknowledgement

"Sparky"

Michael shook his head

"My name is Michael Garth"

A rustling of curtains caused both men to look back as the doctor re-entered

"Sorry, no visitors"

Will gestured

"It's ok Paul, we have business"

Paul looked at Will's clipboard and then prodded Will's shoulder. Will exhaled in pain

"Five minutes, no more and then you are getting some painkillers whether you like it or not and if you don't take them within my sight then you aren't leaving"

Will nodded and Paul left

Michael sat on the edge of the gurney that Will was half lying, half sitting on

"You're not Triad"

Will chuckled

"Nope"

"So what are you?"

"I used to be part of a ninja clan, but things went south so i left when fingers started pointing at me for something. So i joined the police force, it's closest to what i know"

"Why were you looking for a police force? I thought ninjas worked from the shadows and killed anyone who crossed them"

Will shook his head

"Like everything else, we change and evolve. The curre...last grand master used us as a sort of police force. Missing children, villages quarrelling, murderers escaping, he used us to settle things one way or another and there was no appeals procedure."

"Sounds simple enough, what happened?"

"His successor wasn't as wise and he didn't like me"

Michael nodded

"Who was that other guy?"

Will tried to move and stretch his muscles but stopped suddenly as pain spasmed across his features

"I can't be sure but i think he was my old sparring partner growing up. Very idealistic when i knew him, but i guess he isn't that way anymore"

Michael sat, deep in thought

"I have a job proposition for you"

Will started laughing then stopped

"I have a job already"

"This one fits your justice quotient and you'll be helping more people"

Will looked up to Michael

"I'm listening"

"It's called project: Jericho"

"How many people are involved in this project?"

"Mainly you, but you have to report to me"

"What is it I'll be doing?"

"I have computer taps in most official computers, but i can't spare the time to collate all the information. I need someone who can sift it all and eventually make it into more than it is."

"What does that mean?"

"Hacker internet boards/forums, Yakuza files, Triad observations. This thing is alive Will, it can adapt and do some good"

"What do you mean, alive?"

Michael sighed and tried to slow his racing heart rate

"Since i was young i have always wanted to stop computer crime, but to stop it, you have to understand it. This computer program i have written taps into any and all information sources whether legal or not and puts them into your lap. I had to manually put taps on government computers but after that the computer learns what is good and what is evil and searches worldwide for it. Mafia shell companies, Yakuza corporations, Triad fronts. As long as they use a computer I...we can have all that data and we can shut them down, Will. We can make real progress and do real good in this world."

Will thought about all the corruption and evil this program could do in the wrong hands. He didn't trust Garth but the plan was a noble one and he believed that Garth had good intentions. Will made a mental note to study up on computer technology while he was on this project

"I'm in"


End file.
